Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PASL) Scoring Policies

ETS recognizes your right to control the information about you that is stored by ETS. Its policies are designed to safeguard your information from unauthorized disclosure. Your score report is intended only for you and for your designated score recipients. However, background information as noted in the registration system is reported to some states and institutions. To protect your right to control the distribution of your scores, reports will be released only at your specific written request and only to ETS-approved score recipients. Every recipient must be specified by you in the online registration system.

ETS will not release your scores at the request of institutions or agencies except:

for use in research studies that are approved by your state department of education and that preserve your anonymity

when information is required under compulsion of legal processes

when a state's central regents office or board of governors requests copies of scores that have been reported to its member institutions

when test takers have been informed at test registration that their scores will automatically be released to the state and the test-taker's attending institution

when a branch institution requests scores previously sent to its main office or vice versa

Official score reports for properly designated recipients are sent directly from ETS to ensure the authenticity of the reports. Note that whenever ETS has confirmed that you have submitted an ETS® Performance Assessment score report directly to an educational institution, agency or district in satisfaction of one of its requirements, ETS will respond to requests for score verification from that recipient.

Cancellation of Scores by ETS

ETS strives to report scores that accurately reflect the performance of every test taker. Accordingly, ETS's standards and procedures for administering tests have two primary goals: 1.) giving test takers equivalent opportunities to demonstrate their abilities, and 2.) preventing any test takers from gaining an unfair advantage over others. To promote these objectives, ETS reserves the right to cancel any score when, in its judgment:

there is an apparent discrepancy in a test taker's identification

the test taker attempts to use the work or ideas of others as their own

the score is invalid for another reason

Reviews of scores by ETS are confidential. When, for any of the above reasons, ETS cancels a score that has already been reported, it notifies score recipients that the score has been canceled, but does not disclose the reason for cancellation except when authorized to do so by the test taker and in certain group cases.

Test takers whose scores are canceled will forfeit their registration fees, and must pay to take the assessment again at a future administration. No record of score cancellations, or the reason for cancellation, will appear on their future score reports sent to colleges and universities.

Identification Discrepancies

When, in the judgment of ETS, there is a discrepancy in a test taker's identification, ETS may decline to score the assessment or may cancel the score and the fee will be forfeited. If scores are canceled by ETS, the fees will NOT be refunded.

Plagiarism

ETS reserves the right to cancel the scores of test takers at any time when, in its judgment, there is evidence that text submitted is substantially similar to that found in other performance assessment responses. Such responses do not reflect the independent writing that the assessment seeks to measure.

Essay Similarity Detection

Each task response in the assessment, whether submitted during the original submission window or during the resubmission window, must be entirely your work. While we encourage getting support from your educator preparation program (EPP) supervising instructor and mentor, each task must be distinctly your own work. Software is utilized to scan all responses for overlap with submissions from all submission windows and from the Library of Examples. Paragraphs or even sections of paragraphs that are substantially similar will be construed as overlap. If such overlap is detected, an investigation with the ETS Office of Testing Integrity (OTI) may be initiated and scores could be voided. If a task response is the subject of a review, the following steps will occur:

Scores will be placed on hold before scores are released.

The appropriate state agency or institution requiring the assessment is informed of the investigation.

You will be informed that your task response is under review, and you will be provided the opportunity to submit additional materials to ETS's OTI to support your case.

Members of ETS's Board of Review will independently review all materials and provide an independent assessment of the case to ETS's OTI.

You will receive a letter from ETS's OTI notifying you of the Board of Review's decision after the review has been completed.

If one or more of the members of the Board of Review conclude that your scores should be released, the hold on your scores will be removed and you will be able to view your score report online.

If the Board of Review arrives at a unanimous consensus that there is substantial evidence to support cancellation of your scores, the scores will be voided and all materials may be forwarded to the appropriate state agency for further review and/or action.

Misuse of Score Report

PASL assessment scores are intended for use in awarding the school leader certification or for program completion. Other use of this assessment and the scores reported is inappropriate. While not inclusive of all possible examples of misuse, one specific example of misuse is:

Employment Selection or Hiring. ETS believes it is inappropriate for a state, district, school or other local education agency to differentiate among test takers who have met or exceeded the passing score on the PASL assessment or related assessment for purposes of making a selection or hiring decision. The PASL assessment was designed for use in awarding the candidate a professional certificate. It is not intended for use in rank-ordering candidates or for making decisions that presume a predictive relationship between performance on the PASL assessment and performance on the job.